Development of the WordPress REST API is under-resourced.

The toughest challenge facing the REST API team right now is resourcing. There are only a few people working on the API regularly, and we need help to build out our projects—which is hopefully where you come in.

WordPress is shaped by its contributors. These are the people who show up and do the work. But when contributors don’t have interest in an aspect of the project, that aspect gets neglected, e.g. data collection and user testing.

This wouldn’t be big issue if it wasn’t for the ecosystem that’s built up around WordPress. We have large businesses (like GoDaddy, where I work) and small businesses (like the agencies and freelancers in GoDaddy Pro) building products and services that depend on WordPress.

Cue Five for the Future, a call to action from Matt Mullenweg. Back in 2014, Matt started asking for organizations to contribute 5% of their people to working on something to do with core development.

Contribution comes in many forms. My skills are by no means core-worthy, but I’m trying to do my part through hosting user meetups and sharing product education. At the other end of the spectrum, my colleague Aaron Campbell is a full-time core contributor. And I know freelance contractors who regularly contribute bits and pieces when they can.

If you’ve got the developer chops, the REST API could really use your help. This is a core feature of WordPress that’s been dragging out for a long while now (development started around 2012/2013). It finally shipped to core in 4.7 and there’s more to be done. You can get involved.